31 May 2011

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Grateful Dead, Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA, February 26, 1977

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

Jerry strummed a banjo. As he plucked he said, "Satan's already been defeated, he just don't know it yet. He'll soon get all he has coming to him. Woe to my children for the devil's coming down on you with great wrath, because he knows that he ain't got but a short time."
In the hospital room the air kicked on, chilling the sweat that had formed on my skin. I folded my arms over my t-shirt, a shirt I had when I was little. Optimus Prime held up a laser pistol with one hand. With the other he waved with a half pointed finger, like Bumblebee, Jazz and Bluestreak would appear on the horizon any second to kick Megatron's whiny ass. The red shirt, worn thin and soft by thousands of washings had been my favorite.
I asked, "What do I have to do? To save myself?"

For so many years the Grateful Dead were summer to me. Probably had a lot to do with the moving of rafting operations from the Cheat in West Virginia to the Lower Yough in Ohiopyle. Being closer to home gave the guides more time to hang out and goof-off before and after trips. Life at the campgrounds was in full-swing. Days got warmer. Laurels bloomed. You saw the same group of guys over and over. The guys you worked with, and relied on, became your family.

This show opens with TERRAPIN STATION, which is my ultimate GD song. I can't listen to it in January unless I'm in a self-punishing type of mood. When I hear this song wildflowers burst open in wide, sunny mountain meadows. A giant moon rises over the pines followed by an even bigger Venus. Maybe there's a campfire. Tea is brewing.

From TERRAPIN STATION lyrics by Robert Hunter:

Inspiration, move me brightly, light the song with sense and color,
Hold away despair.
More than this I will not ask, faced with mysteries dark and vast.
Statements just seem vain at last.
Some rise, some fall, some climb to get to Terrapin.

Counting stars by candlelight, all are dim but one is bright,
The spiral light of Venus, rising first and shining best.
On, from the northwest corner, of a brand new crescent moon,
Crickets and cicadas sing, a rare and different tune,
Terrapin Station.

Terrapin Station, Minglewood Blues, They Love Each Other, Estimated Prophet, Sugaree, Mama Tried, Deal, Playing In The Band > The Wheel > Playing In The Band Samson & Delilah, Tennessee Jed, The Music Never Stopped, Help On The Way-> Slipknot!-> Franklin's Tower, Promised Land, Eyes Of The World-> Dancin' In The Streets-> Around & Around, E: U.S. Blues